The Elements of Life
by arodli91
Summary: Four friends, each with a special ability (that didn't come from eating a devil fruit) break free of a life of slavery and try to start new ones.
1. Chapter 1: Four Histories

**So this is my first story, and aside from essays in English classes I've never really written stories before. So I hope it isn't too bad. =)**

**This chapter was updated on July 9, 2013.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but the plot and OCs are mine =D**

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Chapter One: Four Histories

**Calisto:**

It was the day before her seventh birthday. Calisto was down by the river that ran through the little island in the South Blue. The little girl wiggled her arms back and forth while spinning around a couple of times, the water following her movements. She was surrounded by a sphere of water, with what appeared to be eight small projections flowing from the edges of the sphere. "Look, aniki! I'm an octopus!" The little ginger puffed out her freckled cheeks and wiggled her arms around more, making the projections dance like tentacles.

"You're not taking this very seriously, Calisto! You need to focus and learn how to defend yourself." Her brother sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, which was just as red a his little sisters.

"Why do I need to worry about that? You've even said so yourself that you and James will always be here to protect me in case any bad guys come."

Calisto was only five years old when she and her brother discovered her ability to manipulate water. It was some strange natural connection with the element that she was born with, and nobody really knew how to explain it. She had just been splashing around during bath time and the water just started moving with her. Their parents seemed to know something about what was going on, and gave her brother very clear instructions to never tell anyone about her powers. Especially the military. Just a few months later, their home burned down, taking their parents with it.

"Calisto, what if we're not here? What would you do then, huh?" A little blonde boy strolled up, carrying some bread and fish.

"Well... I dunno... I guess I'll think of something. Whatcha got, James?"

"Lunch. But eat quick, you need to keep practicing."

"Where did you get all that, James?!" The older redhead whispered so his little sister wouldn't overhear.

"Where do you think!? The market." The blonde whispered back to his friend.

"Okay, fine, how did you get that?"

James' expression narrowed to a rather sarcastic look. "Do you _really_ need to ask, Kidd."

"No. Forget I asked." Kidd sighed, once again, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. "James, I sure hope no one saw you take this stuff."

"I don't think anyone did. I haven't been caught yet."

James was the same age as Kidd, and was his best friend. Shortly after the fire, he had met Kidd and thought he was acting rather strange, so he decided to follow him out to the edge of town, and to the old abandoned cabin by the river. There he saw Calisto playing in the water, and decided to try and help his new friend and his sister. Ever since then, James has been by their side.

A short distance upstream, the bushes moved. "So _that's_ where that little thief has been hiding. And look who's with him. We should let boss know."

Later that night, the trio was sitting by a little fire James had made. The boys were fast asleep and Calisto slipped away to go play octopus again. After about twenty minutes or so of being out by the river, she finally noticed she was being watched. There were three tall men right behind her, two of them were tall and lean, the third was tall and rather fat. But all three of them were wearing the Marine's uniform. The little girl just looked up at them, not really sure what to do.

The way they were looking at her scared her, that money-hungry look in their eyes said it all, she was in danger. Kidd and James were always trying to warn her something would happen, so they made her practice defending herself. But just like earlier that day, she never took it seriously. So she made a run for it. The river really wasn't that far from the old cabin, but in that moment, it seemed like it was miles instead of just twenty meters or so.

The men kept getting closer and closer, in a panic, she began to yell out for Kidd and James. Hoping they would wake up and hear her. One of the men finally caught up to her and grabbed her from behind, she screamed even louder, so he covered her mouth with his hand. She bit down on his sausage fingers, tasting dirt and blood. Neither one of them tasted good anyway, but together was even worse. The man yelped out in pain and in reflex, he let go, dropping her to the ground. The other two men tried to keep her from getting away, but from out of the darkness came James and her brother, leaping onto the backs of the other two men, biting and punching in a mad fury, desperately trying to help little Calisto. But amidst all the chaos, the fourth man had gone unnoticed. And before either one of the boys could do anything about it, she was gone.

**Avalon:**

It was a beautiful day on her little home island in the West Blue. With her eighth birthday quickly approaching, she was out in her mother's garden carefully selecting the vegetables she wanted for her birthday salad. Avalon enjoyed being out in her mother's garden, it was soothing. With the sun beating down on her tan skin, the breeze flowing through her long wavy brown hair, the smell of different herbs and flowers filling the air, it was the best place to be.

The garden was not only the best place to relax, but it was also the best place to practice her earth manipulation abilities. She'd always had a special connection to the earth, she could feel the movement of the little animals, almost hear the plants breathing. She loved it. Her favorite plant to practice with was the ivy. It was strong, flexible, easy to control, and there was plenty of it. Sometimes she would even make funny little animal shapes with them.

Her mother was a healer of sorts, so there was certainly no shortage of plants to learn about and experiment with. Someday, Avalon wanted to become a healer too, just like mother. And being a healer meant people would come and visit fairly often. Most of the time it was the same people, with the same problems, but that didn't matter to her. As long as people needed help, she wanted to be there and help them. The most common visitors were the marines from the near by base. The new trainees were always getting themselves or each other hurt, usually by accident. If it was ever on purpose, mother would bash the culprit upside the head, asking how they like being hit deliberately, but that happened very rarely.

Avalon liked the marines, they were always very kind to her, but it made sense that they would have to be if they wanted her mother's help. From where she was standing in the garden, atop the shell of a tortoise she had made from the vines, she could see three marines standing in the living room, talking with her mother. She didn't recognize these three, and she couldn't hear what was being said, but the look on her mother's face showed annoyance with the three men. Her one hand was resting on her hip, the other pointing to the men. Yup, mama wasn't happy about something.

Avalon wanted to get a better idea of what was going on, so she headed toward the house. She opened the door, but before she could step inside, her mother called out to her, "Avalon dear, before you come in would you please go check on the honeysuckle serum?" She sounded very calm, but Avalon knew better. That word, her mother's special code word **honeysuckle**, meant **danger**! She knew she had to get somewhere safe, and quick.

"Yes Mother." As quickly as she could Avalon darted for the safety of the garden. In the distance she could hear the faint screaming of her mother, cursing at these men in a foreign language. Avalon didn't know what the words meant, but she knew it wasn't nice.

"Get going you sorry oafs, the girl is getting away!" One of the men began shouting at the others. His shouting was quickly replaced with screaming in agony. The woman pulled out her incense lighter and singed his leg. She only knew that because she could smell the burning hair and flesh. **BANG!** That was not a noise she was familiar with. She knew the navy base had guns, but she had never really heard them before, and the village was rather peaceful, nobody had ever been shot there, so she didn't know what that sound was. Something was wrong though, she couldn't hear her mother anymore but she could hear the two men whispering to each other as they walked through the garden looking for her. She wanted to cry but she knew that right now, she couldn't. Not with these men getting so close to her. She knew she had to be ready to fight, so she hid herself in the center of the vines and closed her eyes. Avalon could feel them getting closer. Taking a defensive stance, she began briskly moving her arms from side to side. The vines followed her every move, snaking out towards the men, twirling her wrist, the vines wrapped around the ankles of the first man. Turning her whole body and extending her arm, she threw him a good ten meters away. Now for the other two. She could feel the second over by the rocks. Stamping her foot and jerking her wrist in an upward motion, several of the rocks soared through the air, pelting the man in the head with much force, knocking him unconscious. Taking a deep breath, she found the third over by the peyote cactus. '_This should be entertaining...'_ she thought to herself. Swinging her left foot off to the left, the ground beneath the man shifted, dropping him flat on his back. She took another deep breath, this time breathing out almost as if she were blowing off the seeds of a dandelion in the summer. The cactus plant, chunked off into small buttons, and landed in his mouth. Trying to be tough, the man swallowed them instead of spitting them out like any smart person would. He looked at the girl with a devilish grin on his face. She only smirked back, "What a dummy." The expression on that man's face changed to that of a total lunatic. He began running around screaming something about a goat-fish wanting to eat his clovers. "Wow, mom wasn't kidding when she said not to eat any of that."

She was so distracted with watching this man go crazy, she didn't notice the first man come up behind her. Before she could react, the world around her went dark.

**Lillian:**

Growing up in the orphanage of a monastery, there usually wasn't much to do. Lily seemed to manage though. Even though she was only eight years old, she enjoyed spending much of her time in the history section of the library. She particularly liked to read about the legends of ancient warriors who could manipulate the elements of life. Legend had it that during the void century, the new world power feared these warriors. So they set out to completely annihilate anyone with this ability plus their entire family, leaving them as nothing more than an old story. Lily fell deep into thought, twisting her long silver hair around her small fingers. Obviously some of these people had managed to escape this world wide execution, since she herself could manipulate the wind and the air around her.

A low murmur of voices broke her concentration. The head monks had gathered in the lower level of the library to discuss something that was obviously important. She couldn't quite figure out what they were saying, but she did understand, there was a pirate ship down at the docks. Lily had never actually met any pirates before, she only knew what she had read. Pirates were supposed to be evil conniving thieves who never bathed. She shuttered at the thought, her brows and nose scrunched up and the tongue stuck out in disgust. That really just grossed her out, but still, she was very curious.

Lily was never really much of the adventurous type, solely because there really wasn't much to explore around the temples. That's all the island really was: a monastery, and a couple of small fishing villages. She really wanted to see this pirate ship for herself. Maybe it would be like that of the Oro Jackson, the ship Gold Roger himself sailed on. So stuffing her favorite book into her shoulder bag, she quietly slipped out the back windows. With her abilities, she was able to move rather quickly and arrived at the docks in a matter of minutes. Awestruck, she stared up at the giant galleon. The wood was worn down and splintered. The Jolly Roger, tattered and torn, waving to and fro in the breeze. No pirates in sight, she twisted her feet around and gracefully jumped up onto the helm. The deck was stained with blood and gun powder, some old and some fresh. It stunk of the strong iron liquid and rotting something, she wasn't sure what though and quite frankly didn't care to find out.

Hearing a strange noise coming from below deck and completely overwhelmed with curiosity, Lily decided to explore further into the ship. The deeper she wandered the louder this strange noise got. It started to sound like moaning and soft sobbing, but she wasn't sure. After much sneaking around, trying to not attract any unwanted attention from anybody that may still be on the ship, she finally found the room the noises were coming from. The door was unlocked, so she very quietly opened the door and slipped in to get a better look. The room was dark, but she could see the faint outlines of what appeared to be cages and chains. The kind that would be used to contain a wild animal, but Lily quickly discovered, it was not wild animals being kept in those restraints, but children of all ages! From outside the door, she could hear the voice of a very gruff, very drunk, sounding woman. "Why in the hell is door open?" The lady slurred. "Ah, well. Guess better lock 'errrr upah."

Lily gasped in shock, she started to turn to leave but she knew it was too late. With a loud click, she was locked in. Lily was trapped!

**Eve:**

Her mother never really cared much for her, hell, she hated her! Nine years ago, her mother had been raped and the only reason she had been born was because her mother couldn't afford to abort. Which only fueled her hatred for the child, and it was obvious from the moment she was born and it certainly didn't help that the child looked just like her mother either. Short raven hair, and fair skin, and apparently she had her father's amber eyes. The child was never given an actual name, only referred to as twit or brat. It wasn't too bad for the first five years of her life, but after that day when she and her mother discovered her ability to manipulate fire, everything got worse. Much worse. Now it was about how she was a freak and a monster, an embarrassment to human life.

Her mother really only seemed to care about two things and two things only; herself and her booze. Only recently was a third thing added to that very short list: a shield. It wasn't just any shield, it was a solid gold shield that was dripping in precious gems, baring the royal seal of the local resident family of World Nobles. Her mother had stolen it only a few weeks ago and was holding it for ransom. How she had managed that, she would never know. The family wanted it back and was willing to pay quite handsomely for it too. Hundreds of millions of belli, maybe even more.

The girl sat quietly at the dinner table, watching her mother stuff her face with a large pile of ribs, washing it down with large gulps of sake. She had only gotten a few crumbs and some fermenting scraps of who knows what. Her stomach growled loudly. "Mom…" she began.

"**I'VE TOLD YOU TO NEVER CALL ME THAT!" **Her mother screeched.

The girl sighed. "Fine… Ami… May I please have more, I'm still so hungry…"

"**HOW DARE YOU ASK ME THAT YOU GREEDY LITTLE PIG! I GAVE YOU MORE THAN ENOUGH, SO GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! YOU DISGUST ME!" **

The poor girl had enough of this woman. "I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU! You horrible drunk! I am sick of the way you treat me! I cringe at the mere thought that I came from such a hideous banshee of a hag! And you know what?! UP YOURS, BITCH! And you can stuff it with this stupid shield too!" She balled up her fists and threw a scorching ball of flames at the shield. Her anger and frustration were so great, and the fire so hot, the shield melted, sending the now crispy gems to the floor. Without looking back, she stormed off to her "room", which was actually just a cellar with a cot.

In a silent rage, her mother disappeared into the night. The poor girl had managed to fall asleep, but had awoken around one in the morning to find three of the World Nobel bodyguards in her room. The one standing over her reached his hand down and pinched a nerve, temporarily paralyzing her. Two of the men picked her up by the arms and dragged her outside her house. There the third man approached her mother, and handed her a rather large lump of cash. "Ma'am, I can't thank you enough for your help in finding this petty thief. You can be assured she will pay for her crimes, and the Royal family is very grateful to you. There will be more rewards to come."

"Well sir, I'm glad I could help them. I'm only sorry I didn't catch her before she destroyed their precious shield. I can only imagine what a loss they are experiencing. That child deserves whatever she has coming."

That was the last thing she ever heard her mother say.

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Just in case anybody is curious, peyote cactus is a very powerful hallucinogenic and if too much is taken, you will more than likely die. I'm just not sure how much is too much. Reviews are more than welcome!

Please and thank you much!


	2. Chapter 2: The Plan and a Man

**I do not own One Piece, but the plot and OCs are mine =D**

**Updated as of July 12, 2013**

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Chapter 2: The Plan and a Man

The girls awoke with a start. This had happened a lot more often lately because of Eve's nightmares. They would all have nightmares, flashbacks to when they were all first captured by the men who sold them into slavery. Though, all seemed to agree Eve had it the worst out of the four of them. Calisto thought it was a rather strange coincidence that all four of them had manipulation abilities and they had all been bought by the same asshole family, well three of them had been bought. Eve had been forced to become their slave because of the shield incident. Lily didn't believe in coincidences, she thought it was fate or destiny.

It had been twelve years since they were all taken away. The family that had bought them, were in the process of moving to Shabondy Archipelago and decided they wanted to buy some new maids to celebrate arriving in the Grand Line. As it turns out, the marines who had kidnapped Calisto and Avalon weren't really marines. It was just a disguise to blend in better, and gain trust. Every day, Calisto thought about her brother and James, wondering what had happened to them. The nobles didn't keep any newspapers or bounty posters, they didn't want the items of the "lesser people" to contaminate their living spaces. She had heard rumors of a pirate with the same name as her brother, she knew it had to be him, since quite frankly, Eustass Kidd is not a common rumors she had heard made it sound as though her brother had become a monster, a cold-hearted killer and a brute of a pirate. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened to him to make him become like that. She only knew what she had heard from hearsay. She didn't even know what he looked like anymore.

By day, the girls had their individual tasks to complete. Lilly was usually cleaning and reorganizing things, Avalon worked in the gardens, Eve was a hand maid to the Mother noble, and Calisto was usually in the kitchen. In the evening, after supper, the four of them were to dance and entertain the family and whatever guests may be visiting.

"So, I was cleaning the library today, you would be amazed at some of the conversations people have in the library. But apparently, the Nobles are bored of us. We're to be sold in the upcoming auction." Lillian drew her attention back from her thoughts.

"Oh that's just fantastic!" Eve rolled her amber eyes in sarcasm.

"Is that the only reason? They're bored of us?" Avalon sighed, this was going to be a long night. Her emerald green eyes began to widen at a sudden realization."What if they decide to split us up!?"

"As far as I know, that is the only reason. I assume that if there were any others, they'd probably have us killed instead. We've made it this long, without letting anybody see our powers. And we've managed to convince everyone that the men who kidnapped Calisto and Avalon were only lying about their abilities to get more money out of them, so our powers don't have anything to do with why we're being sold. And quite frankly, I can't think of any other reasons." Lilly always had a habit of being incredibly blunt and matter of fact. She was usually right, but very blunt.

"I don't think they will separate us, Avalon." Calisto shook her head, her messy bed-head swaying back and forth with her.

"Actually, they just might. Think about it Cal, these assholes could make a fortune from selling us individually."

"That's a good point Eve."

"So what are we going to do about it? I don't think any of us really want to be split up, I mean, we are all we have." Lilly's gray eyes began to worry.

Eve thought for a minute, twirling her now long black hair with flame red tips through her thin fingers, biting her lower lip and she pondered. Her lips curled into a mischievous smirk."I have an idea… It's risky, but it just might work." Her smirk evolved to a deadly grin as she began to explain her plan, "Lily, you already know how to pick the locks on these things, so you can get these collars off without them exploding."

"Yea, I can do that." Lilly's voice was unsure of where Eve was going with this plan.

"Avalon, you can manipulate the chains to tie up the guards…"

"Um, " Avalon really didn't like where this was going, "I don't know about that Eve, the chains they use are seastone."

"It'll work, trust me. We're not devil fruit users, so to us, seastone is just another type of rock. And rock is just part of the earth. You can handle it!" Eve assured her friend that she could, in fact, control the chains.

"Calisto, you and I can fight people off while we escape."

"That sounds good and all, but when exactly are we going to do this?" Calisto her head tilted to one side, fiery red hair still a mess from tossing and turning in her sleep.

"At the auction." Eve's wicked smile grew.

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Avalon shrugged, happy she wasn't going to be taken away from her friends.

"Yup, I'm in." Lilly's gray eyes twinkled with excitement.

"This'll be fun!" Calisto giggled, excited to try a new move she had recently discovered.

It was a perfect plan, escape and cause utter chaos for all of those stuck up pricks that made their lives miserable. That night, none of the girls could fall back asleep. Avalon thought of her mother and how she now knew that some kid had snuck into the garden and saw her practice. She must have been too focused on her ivy figures to see someone was watching. It was that kid who told his friends, and the traders had over heard them.

Lily thought of the orphanage. She wasn't supposed to be in the library that day, but she was bored of her classes. It was fate that she was there to hear the monks talking about the pirate ship at the docks. It was fate that allowed her to hear the noises from below the deck. It was fate that lead her to her friends.

Eve was thinking about the day she met her friends. She didn't like them at first, she was afraid they would see her as a freak too, but as persistent as Calisto was, she showed her that she was a freak too, which gave Avalon and Lillian the confidence to also show each other their abilities. So she finally warmed up to them and somehow in a way became the leader of the group. She was ashamed that she had no name, so they decided to give her one. Eve was the name they all agreed on. It meant life, and Avalon's reasoning was Eve was beginning a new life, with new friends. They were more than friends now, they were her sisters. And Eve would do anything to keep them from being split up. Even if it meant death, if they were caught trying to escape.

The girls liked the idea of escaping their lives and becoming pirates. Whether or not they would join another crew or form their own, they hadn't decided yet. The girls thought about the pirates they would love to meet some day, Avalon wanted to meet Dr. Chopper of the Strawhats and discuss medicine and treatments. Lily wanted to meet Nico Robin and talk about history, maybe even share knowledge of the void century. Calisto wanted to meet 'Dead Bones' Brook. She liked to dance, so maybe he'd play music for her. Eve, had a secret, she wanted to meet the first mate of the Heart Pirates. She was no girly girl who went giddy over anything cute and fluffy, but the thought of a walking talking karate master polar bear made her want to squeal.

Saint Tsuko, or as Eve commonly referred to him, the fat goldfish, (he was very overweight and had gold-orange hair, so he reminded her of a goldfish) was bored of their current costumes and was feeling "generous" enough to allow them new ones to wear at the auction. After all, he didn't want them to look like the trash they really were. So he sent one of his guards out to the shopping center to choose new costumes, and was to take each of the girls with him to make sure it would fit her in "just the right places".

Calisto and the guard were out at the shopping center, and had found a teal blue dance costume. A small off the shoulder bikini top, and a short skirt with a high slit going up the thigh. It was very sexy, and oddly enough, Calisto actually liked it. She was even contemplating keeping it once they broke themselves free, because it would be easy to fight in. While she was deep in thought, she failed to notice the guard disappeared, once she realized this, she took the opportunity to grab some apples while she searched for him. **BAM!** She walked smack into someone.

"**What the hell! Oi, girly, watch where you're going!"** The rather tall, well-built ginger, seemed pretty angry. "Pff.**..** stupid woman, not paying attention..." The man grumbled to himself.

"Oops, sorry. I was distracted by those hideously tacky pants of yours. You might want to get those washed. Looks like a sea-sick clown threw up on them… oh, never mind, that's just the design." She very sarcastically retorted, flipping her jaw length hair back out of her eyes. Granted, she wasn't the best at coming up with insults, but that was the best she could do at the moment. This guy was a jerk. She had just only run into this guy, doesn't even know his name, and she already did not like this prick.

"Che… I don't have time to waste on a little snot like you. Be glad I let you live." He snarled.

Geez, she really didn't like this guy. "Oh, how thoughtful of you, oh great one! Thank you ever so much for blessing me with your kindness…" She just rolled her eyes and walked away. She wasn't going to waste any more energy on this ass, and she certainly hoped she wouldn't ever run into _him_ again.

As the red-haired girl walked away mumbling to herself, Kidd only rolled his eyes. "What an annoying little twerp! Who the hell does she think she is talking back at me like that!?"

"Who are you going on about now, Captain?"Kidd turned around, it was only his first mate, 'Massacre Machine' Killer

"I don't know. But I don't like her already. Maybe I shouldn't let her go, I'll make her regret talking to me like that…" He grit his teeth together in anger, ready to take off after her and make her miserable.

"Don't waste the energy Kidd, I'm sure you'll get your chance later." Killer wondered to himself, 'Who on earth was she, and why do I feel like I've met her before?'


	3. Chapter 3: The Auction

**Updated as of July 15, 2013**

**I do not own One Piece, but the plot and OCs are mine**

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Chapter 3: The Auction

It was finally the day of the auction, and the four girls were to be sold separately as lot numbers 13-16. Originally, the lot of the night was to be a giant, caught while he was sleeping, but then some jerks brought in a young, female mermaid with a pink fin and short green hair. Poor thing, all four of the girls felt badly for her, the way she was discriminated against just because she was different, and not to mention she was terrified. She was putting up a hell of a fight too, then the asshole auctioneer came in and hit her.

Calisto wanted to cheer the little mermaid up. "Hey, Camie! When we get out of this mess, you wanna race me in a swimming contest?! It'll be loads of fun!" A giant goofy smile grew on her face, it was obvious she was trying to help the mermaid feel better. Camie just smiled faintly, then curled what would be her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on her folded arms. "Um… I like your flippers. They're pretty!" She tried again, this time getting face palms from her friends, which in turn got Camie to giggle.

"So Eve, when does the plan start?" Avalon brought Calisto back to focus, her brows furrowing together with concern.

Eve lowered her voice, so as not be overheard by the guards, "After they sell us, at the end of the auction. We want as much of their money as possible, so we need to know just how much these people have on them."

"Sounds like you ladies know what you're doing." The man with gray hair and glasses sitting at the end of the line up took a sip from his flask. He seemed very calm for being chained up. Almost too calm.

"Yup, give them hell and steal their money." Calisto stated, very matter of fact.

"You know, Cal, we should really be more careful about who we talk to about our plans. We don't want to be heard by the wrong people." Avalon cautioned her friend.

The auctioneer's voice came on the speaker system above, introducing lot number 12. "Well ladies, looks like you're up next, best of luck to you." The old man chuckled as he took yet another sip from his flask.

"Up next is lot number 13, a beautiful young woman, her hair maybe silver, but she is only 19! Ladies and Gentlemen, Lillian! She can clean, she can wait on you hand and foot, and she can dance! Just look at her, all pretty in pink!" Lilly stood there like she was told, just waiting for everything to end. The crowd ooed and awed. "Our bidding starts at 1,000,000 belli. Quite a steal for this young woman."

The bidding began, "2 million!" "3 million!" "4 million!" People from all across the room were shouting. "8 million!" A voice shouted from the back of the room. It sounded almost as if it were coming from a love sick man. It was faint, but Lilly definitely heard a thunk coming from that man's direction, and she could swear she heard him being chewed out by a woman for bidding when he wasn't supposed to. "10 million!" Someone else hollered out. Lillian was starting to feel the heat from the lights focused in on her. She rubbed her arms from anxiety, her exposed skin began to get goosebumps. Her long, baby pink skirt shifted, as she placed her weight from one foot to the other.

"We have 10 million belli! Are there any other bids? Do I hear anything more? 10 million, once, twice... SOLD!"

Lilly was quickly escorted off the stage and into the back room, where she was to supposed to be waiting for her new master to collect her.

"Up next, we have lot number 14, she is quite a beauty as well, lovely tan skin, she's a gardener, she has medical knowledge, and she plays music. Ladies and gentlemen, Avalon!" The curtain rose to reveal Avalon wearing a long dark brown dress, with a purple sash around her waist. Her long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. Avalon knew they weren't going to be split up, but the fear was still there. She didn't like the thought of being sold like a piece of furniture; a single tear fell.

"We will begin the bidding at 3 million belli!"

"4 million!" "6 million!" "8 million!"

"9 million!" No further bids were placed.

"We have 9 million belli! Anymore? 9 million, once, twice... SOLD!" The auctioneer shouted with excitement! This was going to be a good night. Or so he thought. "Lot number 15! We have our lady in blue up next. Only 19 years old, and she can cook! She can clean, and she can dance! Just look at that figure! How could you not want her?! Ladies and gentlemen, Calisto!"

Calisto wanted to give these guys as much trouble as she could. She may be a bit of a ditz at times, but she could cause some serious trouble when she wanted to. "Hey, excuse me, Disco? Right?"

"What?" He grunted under his breath.

As loudly as she could, she asked, "Why are you wearing a dress? Is there something you're not sharing? Vagina envy, perhaps?"

Disco's face went red, from both anger and embarrassment. Someone in the back roared with laughter. Quite a few people did. They must have been pirates who were just there for the show, since all the "proper" people just sat there in awe and disgust. The beginning bid hadn't even been stated yet, but that didn't stop Kidd from placing the first bet. "7 million." Disco was surprised someone would want this obnoxious and vulgar young woman.

"8 million." The cool, very calm voice of another pirate sitting close by rang out. The man was rather slender, wearing blue pants with odd spots around the knee and hem, a black and yellow hoodie with a smiling jolly roger with what looked to be T's around the edges. He was also sporting a fuzzy white hat with the same brown spots around the rim as was on his pants. He also had a polar bear sitting next to him in an orange jumpsuit with the same jolly roger. It was Trafalgar Law, the Surgeon of Death.

Law's bid annoyed Kidd, everything about that man annoyed Kidd. "9 million." He was starting to get frustrated.

"Captain," Killer leaned to the side, "did that guy just say her name was Calisto?" It clicked. Killer knew he should have known who she was, even though his expression couldn't be seen through his mask, he frowned. "Kidd, are you even paying attention?"

Kidd was focused on out bidding his rookie rival. 10 million then 11, 12 then 13. He was determined to win. "Wait, did he just say Calisto?"

"You just now noticed?!" Killer sighed as he sweat dropped. Kidd may be known as being a ruthless brute, but he also had brains. But there were times Killer had to admit, his captain was a bit slow and catching on to some things.

"SOLD! To the man with red hair in the back for 13 million belli!" Disco was glad to get that brat off the stage, he was sure to teach her a lesson. "Up next we have another young, beautiful woman, her fair skin and dark hair make for quite a lovely combination. Nobles alike, lot number 16 is Eve! An intelligent woman, she can wait on you hand and foot, or she can entertain you and everybody else with a dance! Or she can just stand there like a pretty little doll, whatever makes you happy! Ladies and gentlemen, let's start the bidding with 7 million belli!"

Eve was amused by Calisto's stunt, she really did not like this guy. He was arrogant, and he would defiantly have to go. She just stood there silently, just a flicker of a malicious smirk showing on her lips. She glanced around the room, just daring someone to try and buy her. Oh, revenge was going to be _sweet! _Is that a polar bear?! '**SO CUTE!**' She tried her hardest to keep her menacing poker face, but it was so difficult to not squeal.

"19 million belli?! SOLD to our Lady Shalulia!" Eve had gotten so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even hear the bidding begin. 'Shit! Bought by a World Noble. Not good!'

Kidd leaned against the back wall of the auction house, watching the unfortunate souls be sold off one by one, it was really disgusting how these people could get away with messing with people's lives like that. Yea, sure, he's killed a lot of innocent people without a second thought, but he doesn't sell them.

""Up next is lot number 13, a beautiful young woman, her hair maybe silver, but she is only 19! Ladies and Gentlemen, Lillian! She can clean, she can wait on you hand and foot, and she can dance! Just look at her, all pretty in pink! Our bidding starts at 1,000,000 belli. Quite a steal for this young woman." 2 million, 3 million, 4 million... these people were really just disgusting.

"8 million!" The blonde with swirly eyebrows, and a blue and black suit, made a bid. He sounded sick too, but in a different way, he sounded love sick...

"**Sanji!" **The chick with orange hair next to him smacked him in the back of the head with her paddle, "We're here to getCamie back! Not buy every woman you see up on stage!"

"Yes, Nami-swan! You're so beautiful when you're angry!" This Sanji guy swooned.

This guy was strange. The whole Strawhat Crew was strange. "Too bad their crazy captain isn't here, I'd like to see just how crazy this guy really is." Kidd commented to Killer. Killer only nodded his head in return.

The girl sold for 10 million belli, the girl after her sold for 9. Up next was number 15; " "Lot number 15! We have our lady in blue up next. Only 19 years old, and she can cook! She can clean, and she can dance! Just look at that figure! How could you not want her?! Ladies and gentlemen, Calisto!" Kidd immediately recognized the girl from the market place the other day, and revenge was about to be his!

He couldn't hear what exactly she was saying to get Disco's attention, but when she decided to speak up so her voice would be picked up through the microphone, was priceless. "Why are you wearing a dress? Is there something you're not sharing? Vagina envy, perhaps?"

Disco's face turned beat red, Kidd's did too, but that was from laughing so damn hard. Everyone from his crew was, even Trafalgar and his crew was busting up. Now he had to have her! "7 million."

"8 million," Law made a bid too. He glanced over his shoulder up at Kidd and just smirked.

"9 million!" Kidd was not going to let this jackass win.

"10."

"11!"

"12 million." Law turned back to Kidd, this time, flicking him off.

"13 million." Kidd was bound and determined to not lose. Law made no further bids. "Wait, did he just say Calisto?" Kidd's face changed from his usual angry man look to a look of shock and realization.

"You just noticed that?" Killer sighed as he sweat dropped.

"SOLD! The the man in the back with red hair." This guy obviously wanted to get her off the stage.

The girls were backstage again, being prepared for their new master to collect them. In the back they could hear the auctioneer introducing poor Camie, but before the bidding could even begin that fat stupid looking Celestial Dragon mad his bid, "500 MILLION!"

"Well _that_ escalated quickly!" Lily said in complete shock.

"Lily! Hurry up and finish getting these things off!"

"I'm hurrying! I'm hurrying! Be patient Avalon, these things are tricky! There; done."

Not a minute later did Straw hat Luffy come crashing through the ceiling riding with one of the Flying Fish Riders. "**CAMIE!**"

Everyone in the room was in complete panic and the girls just had to go see what was happening.

"Lily, now's your chance, go get the money!" Eve reminded her friend of what she was supposed to do next. In a flash, Lily took off running. As she ran, every thing seemed to be in slow motion to her, she gracefully spun and twisted, grabbing bags of money, casually tossing them up into an air bubble she had made to hold everything. She was now up in the back of the room, running behind the pirates, swiftly taking money from the nobles running out the doors. She paused as the sound of gun fire rang out. The fat ass in a bubble had shot a fishman. Looking to her side, she was standing next to the Surgeon of Death. He looked somewhat surprised to see her standing there, but he didn't do or say anything, he just looked at her.

Everybody in the room froze as Luffy punched the fat pig of a World Noble square in the face. "I like this guy already!" Eve whispered to herself. Guards began to swarm the place, and Eve decided it was time to take out some long pent up anger. She balled up her fists and took a deep breath. Extending her right arm forward in a punching motion, she began shooting red hot balls of fire. Guards continued to try and surround her, pivoting on the ball of her foot, she swung her leg around, and a steam of flames came flowing out, the smell of burning flesh began to fill the air. Eve was enjoying herself.

Calisto wanted to join in the fun too, and since Camie's fishbowl had been sliced open by the green haired swordsman, there was plenty of water for her to use. With the wave of a hand, a pool of water began to float midair. A devious smirk began to grow on her lips. She shoved a pillar of water into one man's chest, sending him flying back into the wall. Another tried coming up from her left and received a swift kick to the jaw. A group of five tried surrounding her, but quickly spinning around while fanning the water out, Calisto lightly blew on the water, freezing the men in place. Forming a sphere of water around her, she drew out eight tentacles, whipping men around, showing no mercy.

Another guard came up on Avalon from behind, earning him a stone chain to the family jewels. She stomped sharply on the ground, making wooden spikes fly up into the air, piercing their feet and anything else in their path. Quickly creating pillars of stone from the floors, she knocked the wind out of 5 men. More chains came soaring through the air, locking themselves onto more men, entrapping them, they way slaves were trapped.

Lily ran as fast as she possibly could, stealing every last belli from all the nobles before they could leave the building, including the millions just from the Celestial Dragons. She saw the perfect opportunity to completely humiliate some of nobles by rolling air balls beneath them and knocking them over into the walls, face first.

All of the pirates were astonished, watching these girls fight and defend themselves. Kidd was the most shocked out of all of them. And even though he was wearing a mask, Killer was just as surprised and Kidd was. Luffy was just staring at them with stars in his eyes, practically drooling at the awesomeness, begging them to become his nakama. Law was now trying to devise a plan to talk the girls into joining his crew as well.

Kidd, almost not believing what he was seeing, walked down to what was left of the stage. Killer right behind him. Walking up to Calisto, he grabbed her by the wrist to get her attention.

"**You're alive?! What happened?! Where have you been? And what the fuck are you doing letting everyone see your powers!?**"

"Kidd! Chill out!" Killer tried calming his captain down.

"Wait… Kidd?!" She was in shock. "You asshole! You threatened me, and then you bought me!? What the hell!? James?! Is that you?!"

"Yes, Calisto, it is me." Killer said quietly. "I don't go by that name anymore. I go by Killer now."

"Calisto, who are these guys? How do they know you?" Eve questioned cautiously.

"Yea, they aren't going to hurt you right?" Lily appeared right behind her, ready to protect her friend.

"I'm curious too. How does he know you?"

"Well, girls… He's my older brother."

* * *

_**Well, I'm honestly not the greatest with fight scenes. But reviews and constructive criticism and even some ideas are very much welcome. =)**_

_**It took me a while to get this chapter updated, my summer classes are pretty loaded, and my sister has now introduced me to shimeji, so now I have little Luffys running around on my screen! =D So cute! Anyway, I finally have chapter four written up, so I should get around to posting it late tonight or tomorrow. **_


	4. Chapter 4: Captian

**Whew! Sorry it's a bit late. Summer classes have started back up for me and jeepers, I've been busy! **

**Elielephant: Thank you again for all your advice! You were incredibly helpful and I am forever grateful!**

**vrodli: Thanks sis for proof reading for me! **

* * *

Chapter 4: Captain

Time had passed rather quickly, Strawhat Luffy and his crew had been in a fight with the Warlord Kuma, and had been sent to who knows where across the globe. Of course, in a way, Kuma had actually saved their skins by sending them away alive, because Admiral Kizaru certainly wouldn't have let them live. It was the day before the execution of Fire Fist Ace, and Calisto was sitting aboard her brother's ship, catching up on times with her brother and Killer.

"So…" she started off rather awkwardly, "James…err…Killer, I mean. Why don't you go by James anymore?" She curiously eyed her old friend, swinging her legs back and forth as they dangled off the side of Kidd's desk in his private quarters.

"Because 'James' isn't an intimidating name, and I need a more intimidating name to go with my mask." He just shrugged.

"Oh. Okay then, so what's up with the mask anyway?"

"Back on the night you were taken away, the man I was trying to fight off took out a knife and cut and stabbed me several times." Killer unbuttoned his shirt to show a very beautifully sculpted body, covered with scars from knife wounds. He also took off his mask. He still had the same piercing jade green eyes she had always remembered, but his well-defined cheek bones and sharp jaw line were marked with scars.

As he put his mask back on, she couldn't help but blush at the thought of just how good-looking he really was. It was a shame he chose to wear his mask. She shook that thought out rather quickly. "I look more intimidating with the mask on. Don't you think?"

"No." She said rather bluntly, her mind still trying to shake her previous thoughts. Kidd spat out a mouth full of his liquor, snorting with laughter. "Oh, like you should be laughing Kidd… he looks more intimidating in his mask than you do in those pants." Now it was Killer's turn to laugh as his captain turned beat red in frustration. His mouth opening and closing like a fish, trying to think of something to say back to her. "You really should consider going with something more flattering to you. Maybe some black jeans would work, but honestly, anything would be better than _those._"

"Calisto" Killer was trying to speak between bits of laughter, "you really should join the crew." Killer knew Kidd wouldn't mind, she was his sister after all. And the reason they had set out to sea was to find her and get her back. Kidd figured that the best chance they had at ever finding her was to become pirates.

"I don't know." She stared down at the floor, shrugging her shoulders.

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Kidd's attention snapped back to his sister.

"Well, what about my friends? I don't want to leave them, so would they be able to come too?"

"Yea sure, whatever." He rolled his eyes. 'Great' he thought to himself, 'we're going to be bombarded with estrogen now.'

"Okay, let me find out if they even _want_ to join first." She gracefully slipped off the edge of her brother's desk, silently landing on the balls of her feet. She turned to Killer and put her arms around his shoulders, pulling herself up onto her tip-toes, she gave his a small peck on the cheek of his mask. "It's good to see you again James." She smiled and left.

"Don't you even **think** about it." Kidd hissed at his first mate.

* * *

The girls were all shocked to hear that Eustass 'Captain' Kidd was Calisto's older brother. "I guess if you really think about it, they do kind of look alike." Lillian shrugged as she twisted and braided her long silver hair.

"I suppose so." Avalon shrugged, "But why didn't she tell us before?"

"Why do you think? He's a psycho." Eve felt slightly hurt too, but she also understood that there are some things people just don't need to know. "It's not like she could really go around saying she's related to Eustass Kidd. What if she would have been overheard discussing that with us?! We all know just how nosy some of the other slaves were, and how much they gossiped with each other."

"It is also possible that Miss Calisto didn't even know for sure that he was even really her brother." Another voice joined their conversation. "After all, I'm sure you ladies weren't exposed to any newspapers or wanted posters, correct?" They nodded their heads. The tall woman with pale skin and short black hair crossed her arm over her chest, taking a long drag of her cigarette.

"True. And who knows what could have happened if anyone else had found out sooner. She probably would have been tortured or taken away to Enies Lobby or Impel Down!" Avalon began stressing over the possibilities of what could have happened if the truth had been discovered sooner.

"Miss Shakky," Lily quickly changed the subject for her worrywart friend, "thank you again for allowing us to hide here until things calm down a bit." She smiled as she thought of the old man with the sake flask from the auction house. After the building was destroyed, he had approached the four girls and offered them a place to stay. It also turned out that the old man was none other than Silvers Rayleigh, the former right hand and first mate of Gold Roger himself. Currently, he was out getting supplies for coating, but when he came back Lily had a bundle of questions for him. Mostly about what it was like aboard the Oro Jackson, and what he may know about element manipulation. Surely he would know something!

The door to the bar opened and closed, Calisto was back. "Girls, my brother asked me to join his crew…" She paused, taking a deep breath, "I told him I wasn't going to do it unless you could come too." A lone tear rolled down her cheek, "I'm not going to go anywhere without all of us being together." She paused again, looking around at her closest friends, her sisters.

"Cal, if you want to join him, it's okay." Avalon stood up to hug the red-head.

"But I don't want to go without you guys."

"Calisto, I have an idea…" Eve gracefully stood up, her mid-thigh length black skirt swayed side to side as she strolled over to her friend. Placing her hand on Calisto's shoulder, she turned to the others, her amber eyes piercing through her raven hair as she gave her signature smirk, "Let's form our own crew."

"What a brilliant idea, Miss Eve." Rayleigh said as he entered the room, taking a sip from his flask that seemed to have an endless supply within.

"I like that idea too, Eve!" Lily grinned. Just imagining all the trouble they could get into.

"I do too!" Avalon casually smiled, excited to get off this forsaken piece of land.

Calisto's arm shot up into the air, "I vote Eve as captain! All in favor say aye!"

"Aye!" Avalon and Lillian both cackled at Calisto's notion.

"Huh?! Why me?" Eve was caught off guard, she began to blush.

"Well, you are already the leader of the group. And you have an answer for everything." Rayleigh answered, chuckling at the girls.

"Congratulations, Miss Eve, you are now Captain of your own crew." Shakky smiled as she took another drag.

"So, where are we going to get a ship?" Avalon tilted her head to one side, her long brown hair flowing with the pull of gravity.

"Hmm… good question." Eve tapped her finger to her chin as she pondered the thought. They were on an island of pirates, so they could very easily take one of theirs. But then again, it was only the four of them, and the chances of them finding a ship that could be handled with just them was highly unlikely. There was a marine base close by, and they had ships of all different shapes and sizes, so they could commandeer one of those. And if they planned on making a name for themselves, why not start with stealing a ship from the marines? But then again, they were sure to be on the lookout for them still, since they were present when Saint Charlos got his ass handed to him by Strawhat, and on top of that, people had seen their powers, so technically they were wanted criminals already. So they might not be able to get close enough to the marine base to get a ship to begin with. "I got it! Calisto, you and Lily go to the marine base tonight, be sure they don't see you. Scout out what ships they have and see if you can't get on board to make sure the four of us can handle it on our own."

"Okay, got it." The two girls nodded.

Calisto pulled out a baby den den mushi and a slip of paper with a number on it. She dialed the number, and a very irritated Kidd answered. "Hello?"

"Kiddles?" She knew he'd always hated being called that, but she loved to do it anyway.

"**Don't call me that!**" He demanded rather sharply. James or someone must have been with him, because she could hear snickering in the background. She could just picture his face. The signature "Kidd frown"; his non-existent eyebrows furrowing together, eyes slanting into a deathly glare, lips pulling into a deep frown as he grit his teeth together. She couldn't help but laugh at the thought. "What do you want, squirt?"

"Oh, I was just calling to say thanks, but no thanks. The girls and I are making our own crew." She was really excited about becoming a pirate with her friends. Kidd only grunted. "Oh, and one more thing, Kiddles…"

"**I said to not call me that!**" It had to have been James with him, because no one else could ever get away with laughing at her brother like that.

"We're going to beat you to One Piece." She hung up before he could say anything back. She turned back to her friends and grinned, "I know we're not really interested in going after One Piece, no offense Ray-san,"

"None taken dear." He just shrugged.

"I just wanted to irritate him more, it's so much fun!" She laughed, and so did her friends.

* * *

Later that night, Calisto and Lily snuck out to the nearby marine base. Calisto swam, using her abilities to create her own current around her waist and legs, pushing her through the water almost matching the speed of a mermaid, stopping only once to take a breath of air. Lily chose to travel by air, at first using her abilities to jump from bubble to bubble, but then using her own air balls to keep her up. She could faintly see the silhouette of her friend beneath the water, awaiting her signal for which ship would be good to check out. Lily spotted a lone cog, it was perfect, only fifty feet long and twenty wide, it was small but it was perfect; and the coast was clear, not a marine in sight. Extending her index finger and thumb out in the shape of a finger gun; she "shot" three air bullets into the water by the cog; signaling to her friend which ship to swim to.

Calisto watched the three air bullets drop into the water next to the boat she was to look at. Beneath the vessel looked alright, no cracks in the keel, which was a good sign. Pushing and twisting the water around her lower legs into a jet current, Calisto silently lifted herself up over the edge of the cog. Once on board, she made sure there was no one else to surprise them. She gave her silver-haired friend a thumbs up, and dove back into the ocean.

Lillian cautiously lowered herself to just above the mast of the vessel, she tied a small gold ribbon to the post. Marking it for reference, so when they were ready for it, they would know which boat they were after.

* * *

**As always, reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome! Please and thank you! **


	5. Chapter 5: Logbook

Chapter 5: Logbook

The girls waited another week before they set out to sea. Things had gotten rather dicey on Shabondy lately; the shichibukai, Kuma the Tyrant, had sent the Straw Hats to different parts of the globe, and the crazy captain, Luffy, had barged right into the thick of the War of the Best between the Marines, World Government, and Whitebeard. He was trying to save his older brother Fire-Fist Ace, and he almost succeeded had it not been for that lava bastard of an admiral, Akainu. The admiral was about to kill Luffy while he wasn't paying attention, but Ace had stepped in the way to protect his little brother. The fist of magma went straight through him, completely frying Ace from the inside out. Being into medicine, Avalon couldn't help but wonder how that might have looked up close. Was there anything left inside his body? Had it all been turned to ash, or was it just scorched and blackened beyond all recognition and beyond all hope of repair? Her thoughts quickly switched to different natural remedies that could be used in treating and soothing burn wounds. Like putting a piece of onion over burned skin would provide instant relief, and dabbing the affected area with lavender oils would help treat it. But of course, neither of these would be of any help as far as having the organs and all other abdominal contents fried to bits by a fist of magma.

Avalon sighed at these thoughts and took a sip of her Jasmine tea. Not even being able to use his devil fruit abilities and turn into fire would have been able to help the poor guy. Then her thoughts changed course yet again; who would do better in a fight, someone who was a Logia user and could become any component of an element, or someone like themselves who could control and manipulate that element? "Hmm… that would most certainly be an interesting experiment." She silently mused to herself, not realizing she had spoken aloud.

"What would be an interesting experiment?" Lily asked as she half-heartedly levitated a pile of fresh berries into her mouth one by one.

"What…" Avalon looked to her left at her silver haired friend. "Oh, I was just thinking; would a logia type fruit user, like Fire-Fist, who can become fire, be stronger than someone who can control fire, like Eve?" She restated her thoughts.

"That would be really interesting to see…" Lily trailed off as she herself began to wonder the same thing. If they were ever to run into someone who used something like an Air Air fruit (if there even was such a thing), would she be able to go against them?

"I guess it would all depend on how strong they are." Avalon began again, pulling her friend from her worrisome thoughts. She took another sip of her tea. "Again, take Fire-Fist for example: he could become fire itself, right?"

"Yea." Lily nodded and tossed another berry into her mouth.

"Well, he was free to practice his abilities anytime he wanted without the fear of someone seeing him. So I'm sure he was ridiculously strong. Eve on the other hand can naturally control fire and create it whenever she wants, but she cannot become fire itself. And she had to be incredibly careful about when and where she could practice, because we've been held as slaves for so long and couldn't risk getting found out. But Eve has also been really strong to begin with. But now, since Ace is dead, I guess we'll never know which of the two would have been stronger. Not that it really matters anyway." Avalon finished her thoughts along with her tea.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to make sure we each get stronger just in case we have no choice but to find out if our abilities are stronger than a fruit user." Avalon and Lillian both jumped, startled that their captain had been listening the whole time.

"Good morning Eve. How long have you been awake?" Lily, still popping berries, smiled at her friend, and now captain.

"Not long, just ten or so minutes." Eve shrugged as she gracefully walked over to the coffee pot on the bar and poured some for herself. "I think it's time to get moving. Ray-san left early this morning to go find Straw Hat Luffy over on Amazon Lily. He's been kind enough to keep the marines at bay for us, but once they figure out he's not here, they'll show up for sure." She took a big gulp of coffee and frowned at discovering it had gone disgustingly cold. Eve let out a long, heavy sigh, and brought just enough heat to her hands to make the glorious robust nectar of the gods, hot once more.

"Right." Lily nodded, "I'll get Calisto up and we'll go check the status of the cog." Lily gracefully leapt to her feet and walked over to her still sleeping the friend. Calisto was lying on her stomach, her right cheek to her pillow and left leg sticking out from her covers. She was never really the most elegant of sleepers, and she snored like a bull on top of it. Lily couldn't help but laugh at her friend, so she took the red-head by her shoulders and shook her awake.

"Waa! What!? I'm awake!" Calisto sat up quickly, her red hair sticking out in every possible direction.

"Cal," Lily sighed at her friend, "We need to go check the status of our boat. Captain wants to leave today."

"Alright, I'll be ready in a few minutes." Calisto stood up, and changed from her nightgown to a pair of gray hip-hugger jeans and a teal blue, off the shoulder, Crimin shirt with a white star on the front, that exposed her abdomen. She quickly ran a brush through her short hair, and grabbed an apple to eat for breakfast. She really liked her new ensemble; the little starfish wearing sunglasses had given them to her. Pappug had given them all new clothes to wear so they wouldn't have to continue to be in the same clothes they had been sold in, to which they were grateful for. Avalon had a brown tank top with dark blue jean shorts that cut off mid-thigh. Lillian was wearing light blue short-shorts and a rich gold tank top and purple Crimin star. Eve had a pair of black skinny jeans and a black and red halter-top.

Shakky had also recently bought the girls a new pair of shoes of their choice: flat Converse like tennis shoes for Lillian, sandals for Avalon, gray ballet flats for Calisto, and a pair of red stilettos for Eve. Other than what they had as children, these were the first pair of shoes the girls had ever owned.

"Alright, let's go Lily." Calisto finished her apple and stood up, waiting for her friend to do the same.

"Okay. Hopefully, we'll be back within an hour." Lily looked to her other two friends who had begun collaborating on a list of items they were going to need for their voyage.

"Don't forget to find the captain's log!" Eve shouted before the two girls were out of earshot.

"We won't!" Both Calisto and Lily shouted in unison.

Both girls walked along in silence, wary of any marines or guards who would recognize them from the auction house. "Did your brother already leave?" Lily finally broke the silence between them.

"Yea, he left for the New World already."

"When did he leave?"

"Last week; he wanted to watch the end of the war in person, so they left." Calisto shrugged.

"I bet it was nice getting to see him and his friend after so long." Lily mused, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Yea, it really was. Kidd isn't as scrawny as he was the last time I saw him." Calisto began to chuckle.

"Well, I would certainly hope not. He'd have to become really strong to survive the Grand Line." Lily began to giggle as well. "What about his first mate? What is he hiding under that mask of his? I bet he is incredibly handsome!" She began to squeal at the potential images of what the face of the masked blonde really looked like.

"Erm… I'm not really sure about that, he's got scars on his face from when he was trying to protect me the night I was kidnapped, but I guess he's okay looking. I've always looked up to him as another older brother." Calisto shrugged, unsure how to answer Lily's question.

"Scars are sexy." Lillian trailed off.

"Sure, I guess…" Calisto gave her friend a strange look, "whatever gets you through the day." She shook her head in amusement.

The two girls finally made it to the water's edge that got them close enough to the port where the marines kept some of their lesser used vessels. Calisto dove into the water, keeping a bubble of air around her so she could stay under longer and keep her clothes dry. Once again she created her own current to propel herself forward as quickly as possible, but without catching any unwanted attention from the marines who were supposed to be on guard. Lillian quickly pushed her feet down on the air, lifting herself up into the sky, just high enough for her to still be able to see the silhouette of her friend beneath the waves, but out of sight from anyone else down below. The two girls finally arrived to where the cog should have been, but it was gone. Lillian scanned the horizons in search for the missing vessel, finally spotting it further out to sea, where what appeared to be some younger recruits taking the cog out for a test run. She shot three air pellets down to the water, each landing a little closer to the direction of the boat, directing Calisto in the direction she needed to go.

Calisto rippled the surface of the water above to signal she understood what to do. Calisto was to sneak aboard, and locate the log. Lillian was to stay above and keep watch. As Calisto neared the starboard side of the vessel, Lily shot a single air pellet to let the red head know there was one man right in front of where she needed to board. Somewhere from the other side of the deck, a voice called out to the first man, requesting he go over there. Lily shot down another bullet, signaling the man was gone, and if she was going to go, she had better go. With that, the water manipulator pushed her arms straight down her sides and lifted herself out of the warm blue waters.

Silently, she crept around to the cabin and snuck inside. Carefully peering into the window of the captain's quarters, Calisto opened the door and began to search for the log book. Lillian kept an eye on the five men on deck, and from what she understood about their conversation, they were just bored trainees who resolved to take the little boat out for a joy ride. And if that was the case, then they had no intentions of documenting this little voyage in the log book. Lily heard one of the men mention he was getting hungry, and they needed to return the boat back to the docks before their commander noticed they were missing. The rest agreed, and turned to the helm to turn around. She quickly pulled out her baby den den mushi and dialed her friend.

Calisto jumped when her den den began to ring. "Yea?"

"Cal! Hide! They're coming to turn the boat around and are headed in your direction!"

"Oh shoot!" Calisto could hear the voices of the men getting closer and closer. The only place she could hide was in a coat closet, and not a moment too soon one of the men walked by. He noticed the door to the captain's quarters was open; curious, he stepped inside and glanced around the room.

"Strange." He mumbled to himself and scratched the side of his head, ruffling his short brown hair. "I don't remember this being open before?" He continued to look around, as if he were looking for something to be out of place. Calisto took a deep breath, and kept as still as she could, praying he wouldn't look in the closet; and thankfully, he didn't. Apparently, he didn't notice anything too suspicious, because he just left without saying a word.

Quietly, she opened the closet and slipped out. She had to find that log! She checked within the drawers of the desk to no avail. Next she began looking through the books in the shelves, and still nothing. She heard the voice of the same man coming back into the room so as quickly and as quietly as she could, she dashed back into the coat closet. The man entered the room once again, closing the door behind him, he spoke in a low voice, "I don't know who is in here, but for both our sakes I suggest you wait to come out of that closet until after I leave this room and pull the rest of the men away from the area." He waited for a reply, and smiled when she didn't answer. "I also suggest looking in the secret compartment behind you in that closet if you're looking to take the logs."

Calisto stood silent, not sure how to react. "Oh, and miss, perhaps if you ever plan on stowing away in a ship again, I suggest you try to not smell so pleasant." The man smirked, "Then again, I suppose I could just be imagining things and I'm merely talking to myself and there is nobody else in here." He spoke quietly to himself as he opened the door and walked away. In the distance, she could hear some of the other men talking to the one who had just exited the room.

"Ben, we'll be arriving back at the docks within the next five minutes. What are we going to tell the commander if we get caught?"

"We won't get caught, trust me." He chuckled charismatically. "C'mon, let's all head to the bow."

"Right!" The other three men shouted in unison.

Ben glanced over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of Calisto gracefully leaping into the ocean, bringing the waves up to meet her form, holding the log book close to her chest.

Calisto and Lillian finally made it back to Shakky's Rip off Bar. The girls didn't have any problems getting back, but Calisto couldn't stop thinking about Ben. She didn't know what it was about that man, but she couldn't stop thinking about why he would tell her where the log book was or why he would let her escape if he knew she was there. She also couldn't stop thinking about his short brunette hair, his big blue eyes, and his short square nose, and his lean muscular body.

Avalon just stared at the now blushing red head, "Calisto, why are you blushing?"

"WHA?! Blushing! Who's blushing!? Why would I be blushing?!" Calisto only dug her grave of embarrassment deeper and deeper. Avalon's smile only widened at the realization that Calisto had a crush. "Okay, he was gorgeous!"

"Did he see you?" Avalon became frantic.

"Did anyone else see you?" Lillian's brows furrowed together in concern.

"Did he have a nice ass?" Eve only smirked, but also genuinely curious.

Calisto blushed once more with Eve's question. "I don't think so; No; and Oh my gosh, Yes!"


End file.
